Quote:
Originally Posted by Igottago
There's no way it wont expand to other items the government or resentful people want to eventually declare "luxury". It's already been suggested a few times in this thread. So, why shouldn't Flames season ticket holders be levied an additional tax? Going to every hockey game each season seems pretty luxurious.
There are plenty of fairly normal people, in Calgary let's say, who after decades of working hard and managing their money wisely, could treat themselves to their dream car at $100k as they get close to retirement. And it's not like these folks are wandering around in flashy suits throwing money at people like the million dollar man. They may have just happened to make financial decisions that created that option for them later in life. They might have forgone other things in life to create that opportunity. They might even be willing to put a fairly significant amount of their net worth towards the purchase if it's that important to them. The government has no idea the weight of this financial decision on the buyer. This tax doesn't account for that, its overly simplistic, judgemental, and not well thought out.
"I think it is entirely reasonable to say to someone who has $100,000 to spend on a car or a plane, or $250,000 to spend on a boat, 'You need to pay a 10 per cent tax to help everybody else,'" Freeland said during a news conference following her tour."
Just a ridiculous statement. Many of these folks have already paid plenty of taxes, probably given significant amounts to charities, might own business that are beneficial to to Canadian society. Yet you want to be opportunists and just grasp for what you think is loose change when they are simply making a consumer choice? It just seems like a pathetic thing to do.
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So is it the $100k quantum that you object to? Better if it was $200k? Is it the word luxury that causes the problem?
This is a means based consumption tax. It doesn't matter if the purchaser is "normal folk", a sports star, drug dealer or lottery winner. If they can afford a massive purchase such as this, they need to pay extra tax. As I mentioned in an earlier post, most if not all of these purchases are more price inelastic. It won't matter to the purchaser, except perhaps your dreamed up scenario, in which case they may need to struggle with that $95k car.